Ontario County Jail at a costly crossroads

Tuesday

Apr 29, 2014 at 11:39 AM

By John Addyman messenger@messengerpostmedia.com

HOPEWELL — Former West Bloomfield Supervisor John Champlin needed no warm-up.“What has come to light,” Champlin told the Ontario County supervisors’ Public Safety Committee, “is that there are bigger problems affecting our public safety departments that not only add to the overtime problem but are creating an overcrowding condition at the jail that will soon force us to build an additional pod.”The cost of that pod?“$8 million,” verified Chief Corrections Officer Alice Haskins.Champlin — head of a special commission that includes town justices, the public defender’s office, the district attorney’s office and other county employees — has held almost-weekly meetings for a year. The original charge of his commission was to look into overtime costs at the jail, which ran $700,000 over budget in 2013, following a two-year trend. The group found out that solving overtime costs at the jail begins the moment someone is arrested.“Mental health is a big part of the puzzle,” Champlin said. “Forty to 50 percent of the current jail population has mental health issues. The state is closing quite a few mental health institutions, leaving nowhere for people to go and receive the help they need. And without help, behaviors escalate and people end up in the legal system instead of the mental health system.“There are other issues as well,” he added. “Sixteen- and 17-year-old kids do not belong in jail. We are one of the few states that still do this.”Champlin said the county is at a crossroads. It could continue in the present direction, in which the new pod would have to be built, with a cost of $650,000 per year to run it.“Or,” Champlin said, “we can invest in programs that rehabilitate people rather than send them to jail. In our opinion, continuing the current path simply throws money away.”The commission offered a number of recommendations:— Hire a consultant to recommend ways to reduce the jail population and encourage prevention methods.— Increase the probation staff by three positions: One to work with mental health and drug courts, one to work with women offenders, and one to work on pre-pleas and pre-sentencing investigations. Cost: $326,000.— Add a social worker, a case manager and a part-time nurse practitioner (eight hours only). Cost: $178,000.“I know this was not what you were hoping to hear,” Champlin told the committee. “But if we go in this direction, I think the results will show that in five to 10 years the county will see a real deduction in recidivism rates and this will result in a real reduction in jail costs.”Haskins said one of the ways the jail is overcrowded is because of “classification.” The jail has 36 double cells, “but mental health cases are not suitable for double cells,” so those inmates have to be put in a single cell.Probation Director Jeff Rougeux said the proposed probation officers, two of them at a senior grade, would either work closely with the courts or work with offenders “from arrest to sentencing beyond.” A target population is female DWI offenders, “the fastest-growing population in our jail.”If the officer working with pre-plea and –sentencing reports can get them done one week earlier, “that will save 1,700 jail days, especially post-conviction,” Rougeux told the committee.Haskins said the jail needs “enhanced mental health services” for prisoners and thought that because the state is closing facilities, “we may have more help available.”Farmington Town Justice Morris Lew said he had been studying data of how cases proceed through the Ontario County judicial system. He said he found nine defendants who had spent more than 200 days in the county jail. He said he needed more research, but “some trends on why certain things are happening” were being noted.Haskins said lack of coordination and excess transportation were very costly. She said someone incarcerated pre-trail might make anywhere from two to 15 unnecessary trips for court dates.Geneva Supervisor Charles Evangelista asked how adding positions would directly reduce the jail population. “I don’t see a correlation,” he said. “You’re throwing people at the problem in the hope you’re going to have a reduction.” He wanted to see a cost analysis.Haskins said the committee planned to provide that analysis, through the consultant. She felt that if pre-sentencing investigations were completed more rapidly, the population would be affected.“The idea is to move people along,” said Champlin. “People with mental health issues are not getting help.”“Why would we want to hire additional people if you’ve recognized the issue?” asked Evangelista. ‘Why not use available staff?”“Because we are just maxed out,” said Probation Supervisor Virginia Gumaer-Mueller. “It’s about prevention. If we give them what they need up front, there’s much less violation at the back end.” She said female inmates, in particular, have unique needs and they are a rising population. A probation officer with “better grasp of the issues” would be very effective.Committee Chair Ted Fafinski, the Farmington supervisor, asked why video arraignments aren’t used in the county to save time and transportation costs. Assistant District Attorney Leslie Cohen-Hickey said it was difficult to use that medium and maintain client-lawyer privacy. District Attorney Mike Tantillo said a special act of the legislature would be needed to allow such arraignments, but it was being tried as a pilot in some counties already.County Administrator John Garvey asked if the contracted correctional mental health workers “were not doing their job for the $300,000 budgeted for them?”“They’re doing an extremely good job for the resources they have,” said Sheriff Phil Povero. “But with more one-on-one jail situations, this is a growing problem.”